Topics

What Congress Can Do About Russia

Lawmakers weigh everything from sanctions to aid in response to Ukraine invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends on May 8, 2012 a State Duma meeting in Moscow. Russia's lower house of parliament on May 8 overwhelmingly confirmed former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister after he was nominated by Putin.

As the crisis in Ukraine con­tin­ues to es­cal­ate and U.S. of­fi­cials is­sue sharp words for Rus­si­an Pres­id­ent Vladi­mir Putin, some mem­bers of Con­gress are lay­ing down mark­ers for what they want to do next. Here’s a roundup of what they’re say­ing:

New Eco­nom­ic Sanc­tions

Con­gress has long been a fan of passing eco­nom­ic sanc­tions as a way to in­flu­ence U.S. for­eign policy. Sen­at­ors, such as Con­necti­c­ut Demo­crat Chris Murphy and the top Re­pub­lic­an on the Sen­ate For­eign Re­la­tions Com­mit­tee, Bob Cork­er, are call­ing for just that. “The United States and our European al­lies should im­me­di­ately bring to bear all ele­ments of our col­lect­ive eco­nom­ic strength to stop Rus­si­an ad­vances in Ukraine,” Cork­er said in a state­ment. “Con­gress will con­sider tar­geted sanc­tions against Rus­si­an per­sons and en­tit­ies that un­der­mine the sov­er­eignty and ter­rit­ori­al in­teg­rity of Ukraine.”

Un­like a pro­posed set of sanc­tions against Ir­an, which has re­ceived a lot of push­back from the White House, the ad­min­is­tra­tion hasn’t is­sued any veto threats or harsh words to Con­gress, ur­ging it not to pass sanc­tions against Rus­sia. Seni­or of­fi­cials told The Wall Street Journ­al that the ad­min­is­tra­tion has be­gun dis­cus­sions with Con­gress about po­ten­tial eco­nom­ic and fin­an­cial sanc­tions on spe­cif­ic Rus­si­an com­pan­ies and lead­ers.

Ex­pand­ing the “Mag­nit­sky List”

The new tar­geted sanc­tions that some want could also come in the form of ex­pand­ing a round of sanc­tions already in place. The Mag­nit­sky Act bans U.S. travel and freezes Amer­ic­an bank ac­counts of cer­tain Rus­si­an hu­man-rights vi­ol­at­ors.

Sen. Marco Ru­bio, R-Fla., wants the ad­min­is­tra­tion to add more Rus­si­an of­fi­cials to the Mag­nit­sky list. It’s something that Sen. John Mc­Cain also backs.

“Liv­ing in Miami, I have seen in re­cent years the wave of Rus­si­an tour­ists com­ing to our city and state to spend money and buy prop­erty,” Ru­bio said in a Politico Magazine op-ed. “Many are gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials or al­lies whose wealth stems from al­le­gi­ance to Putin, and we should lim­it their abil­ity to travel here.”

Some top-rank­ing mem­bers pushed the Obama ad­min­is­tra­tion to add ad­di­tion­al names earli­er this year. The ini­tial 2012 pas­sage of Mag­nit­sky spurred a blow­back from Rus­sia in the form of a ban on Amer­ic­ans ad­opt­ing Rus­si­an chil­dren.

In­ter­na­tion­al Ob­serv­ers

Sen­ate Armed Ser­vices Chair­man Carl Lev­in said that one of the first steps the U.S. and al­lies could take is to “place a sig­ni­fic­ant num­ber of in­ter­na­tion­al ob­serv­ers on the ground in Ukraine, if re­ques­ted by the Ukrain­i­an gov­ern­ment.”

“The pres­ence of in­ter­na­tion­al ob­serv­ers on the ground could re­duce the risk that Rus­sia would make a false claim of pro­voc­at­ive acts by Ukraine as an ex­cuse for fur­ther vi­ol­a­tion of Ukrain­i­an sov­er­eignty, and thereby help avoid a con­flict that nobody should want,” the Michigan Demo­crat said in a state­ment.

Aid to Ukraine

Many Re­pub­lic­ans and Demo­crats want to see more aid go­ing to Ukraine right now. The top Demo­crat on the House For­eign Af­fairs Com­mit­tee, Eli­ot En­gel, is push­ing for “a ro­bust in­ter­na­tion­al eco­nom­ic as­sist­ance pack­age and the ad­min­is­tra­tion’s pro­pos­al to provide U.S. loan guar­an­tees and oth­er as­sist­ance to Ukraine.”

Mem­bers of the Sen­ate For­eign Re­la­tions Com­mit­tee also en­dorsed loan guar­an­tees to Ukraine. Sec­ret­ary of State John Kerry has already pledged that the U.S. will provide $1 bil­lion in such loan guar­an­tees, which could come with even more aid after con­sulta­tion with Con­gress.

Don’t Re­spond Mil­it­ar­ily

Un­like in re­cent crises, such as in Syr­ia, no mem­bers are call­ing for the U.S. to use mil­it­ary force in the Rus­sia-Ukraine con­flict.

“We do not seek con­front­a­tion with Pres­id­ent Putin and his gov­ern­ment, but simply [want] to en­sure that Rus­sia abides by its com­mit­ments and ad­heres to core prin­ciples of in­ter­na­tion­al law,” a bi­par­tis­an group of sen­at­ors who sit on the For­eign Re­la­tions Com­mit­tee wrote in a let­ter to Obama.

Even hawk­ish Mc­Cain em­phas­ized, “There is a range of ser­i­ous op­tions at our dis­pos­al at this time without the use of mil­it­ary force.”

President Obama has called for a "full review" of the hacking that took place during the 2016 election cycle, according to Obama counterterrorism and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco. Intelligence officials say it is highly likely that Russia was behind the hacking. The results are not necessarily going to be made public, but will be shared with members of Congress.

Source:

AT ISSUE: BENEFITS FOR COAL MINERS

Manchin, Brown Holding Up Spending Bill

2 hours ago

THE LATEST

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are threatening to block the spending bill—and prevent the Senate from leaving town—"because it would not extend benefits for retired coal miners for a year or pay for their pension plans. The current version of the bill would extend health benefits for four months. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday afternoon moved to end debate on the continuing resolution to fund the government through April 28. But unless Senate Democrats relent, that vote cannot be held until Saturday at 1 a.m. at the earliest, one hour after the current funding measure expires."

Source:

PARLIAMENT VOTED 234-56

South Korean President Impeached

3 hours ago

THE LATEST

The South Korean parliament voted on Friday morning to impeach President Park Geun-hye over charges of corruption, claiming she allowed undue influence to a close confidante of hers. Ms. Park is now suspended as president for 180 days. South Korea's Constitutional Court will hear the case and decide whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment.

Source:

CLOSED FOR INAUGURAL ACTIVITIES

NPS: Women’s March Can’t Use Lincoln Memorial

3 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Participants in the women's march on Washington the day after inauguration won't have access to the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service has "filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters."